Heart of Sky
by The Penitent Heretic
Summary: Life; it wasn't fair and it wasn't easy. For the indomitable Izuku, however, it was all a matter of balance... As evil ascends and the greatest hero falls, another must rise to take his place. With a powerful quirk of his own, Izuku will bear that burden in time, but not alone. A dark world approaches fast for Class 1A, but Izuku will lead them by clinging to the sun. Harem. AU.
1. Prologue: Manifest

The world rushed up to meet him. He gently closed his eyes and waited for the plunge. For a split second, with the wind in his hair and the sun beating down upon his bare back, he was content; weightless.

 _Splash_.

He surfaced from the cool water a moment later, pulling his unruly green hair out of his face, before making his way inland. The feeling had gone just as soon as it had come, and the weight of reality set in on Midoriya Izuku once more.

He was quirkless.

That's what the doctor had told him and his mother a few days ago; that his body was incapable of manifesting powers, unlike eighty percent of the population. In a society full of people with abilities, this actually made Izuku stand out in a way.

It meant that he was an outlier, an oddity. It meant that he was special, or so his mother had reasoned on the otherwise silent ride home. Even at the age of eleven( _1_ ), a mere year after his powers should have shown, Izuku knew otherwise.

What it really meant was that his dreams of being a hero were shattered.

For there never existed a hero who was quirkless. He'd searched for such a thing for the past year, ever since his classmates quirks began revealing themselves. While others began sprouting wings or turning invisible - or created explosions - he had scoured the internet, delved deeply into blogs he couldn't remotely have been allowed on, even asked the occasional hero on the street about the possibility. He'd searched and searched for an answer to the unspoken question.

The results had been the same at every turn. All the while, he tried to bring his powers out of himself forcibly, often ridiculously, but to no avail. A year may as well have been a lifetime to the ambitious boy. No such hero ever existed and as it stood, so such hero ever would.

A deep depression settled on the usually undaunted boy. He didn't bawl his eyes out, he didn't tear apart his room. There was no tantrum or break down. Instead, he'd simply stopped smiling. Steadily stopped eating. And then stopped sleeping.

Which is what brought him to where he was now. His mother, Inko, had grown beyond concerned at the unhealthy turn he'd taken. After a brief consultation with the same doctor who'd delivered his diagnosis/sentence, she had decided to take her son to the lake for a bit of a getaway during the winter holidays. A calming location, far away from most heroes and his quirk-gifted classmates basking in their newfound abilities. The change had remarkably pulled Izuku out of his funk, if only just, but the depression was still there, waiting.

Izuku was rather self-aware for a child. He knew the toll his sudden change was taking on his hard working mother, both emotionally and financially - as they couldn't afford a place like this even for a month - and tried to curb it as best he could. He attempted to distract himself with other things, anything, in the hopes of willing himself better.

He explored the wilderness around the home they had rented for the month, leaping in and out of the dead leaves piled around the lakehouse. When his mom wasn't around, he took to jumping off the modest bluff a little ways down the shore, the cold water always serving to wake him up and clear his thoughts, though it worked less and less the more he did it. Slowly but surely, the darkness crept back, and every night he returned to that deep hole; a place filled with his fears and thoughts and anger.

He couldn't imagine a future where he couldn't save people, but right now he needed to save the person he cared for the most - his mother. And so he kept it all to himself and made an effort to smile around her, help her with the various chores and shopping and meal prep, and even began talking about his hopes of being a doctor or someone else who could help people in a different way.

Ironically left unsaid was that most doctors had a healing or medically-relevant quirk.

Izuku let out a cold, shuddering breath as he toweled the rest of his body off, his dripping hair left to dry in the setting sun. He looked out over the still lake and acknowledged how beautiful it was.

The sky was a lovely palette of colors, descending from the dark blue of approaching night to a pale purple that hugged the horizon. Large, puffy clouds hovered like pink and orange mountains, their reflections in the water still as stone. The wildlife around the lake began their nocturnal well-to-do's and greetings as the animals of the day said their own farewells. And the wind… The wind danced between the trees to a whistling tune, not unlike a lullaby.

He liked all of these things, none of which you would typically find in the city, but the wind here was by far his favorite. It soothed him on a different level... He couldn't really describe it.

As the sun dipped lower still beyond the distant shoreline, Izuku let out a sigh at yet another day gone by. With his hair still dripping wet, he began the walk home in the growing darkness.

* * *

That night, after washing up the dishes from dinner, Izuku had begged off watching television with his mother, unable to force himself through the rather mundane shows she watched, and had instead brought her computer into the bedroom, closed the door, and gotten under the covers.

"Have no fear..."

The LED screen brightened the moment the video played, as two rows of crystalline white teeth instantly illuminated Izuku's face in the darkness.

"...For I am here!"

 _All Might_.

There he stood, larger than life; Izuku's hero. The greatest hero on Earth, almost indisputably. The man who saved countless lives, fought and won dozens of battles, defeated - and often rehabilitated - numerous villains. And all with a constant, reassuring smile on his face. All Might.

Izuku wanted so desperately to be like him.

Ever since he could remember, he'd been bullied, even before his quirk failed to show itself along with everyone else. Whether for his lanky frame, his weird hair, or the fact that he didn't have a father - as kids could often be needlessly cruel - he'd fought to preserve justice. Stood up for himself, and in time, stood up for others going through similar circumstances.

At the age of eight, he'd begged his mom to enroll him in martial arts, claiming it would be beneficial in helping him control his inevitably 'awesome' quirk as well as preparing him for the path of a hero. His mother had acquiesced, unaware of his true intentions and how quickly he would be applying his newfound knowledge of silat and muay thai, the latter having been difficult to find and even harder to get into. Nonetheless, he'd attacked his training with tenacity, just like his idol would have.

But his training had been for nothing. His daydreams and doodles had been for nothing. His draining exercise regime, self-drafted but effective as far as he was concerned, had been for nothing. His intense, singular focus on being the best he could be - all for nothing now that he was quirkless.

His hours upon hours spent in the mirror, practicing his own reassuring smile; less than nothing. Now, when he smiled, it felt hollow. Like a pale imitation of what was on the computer screen. He was nothing like All Might.

As his eyes watered, something he convinced himself was due to staring at the screen for too long, he heard the door open. His mother was there, though his back was to her. She made no move to come in, to reassure him, perhaps thinking he needed space, just as she did every night.

When the door slowly began to close, something took hold of him. A deep seated urgency. Maybe it was the grinning face of a soot-covered All Might frozen on the screen. Maybe it was the salty tear as it burned its way down his cheek. Maybe it was the thought of his mother closing the door on him every night, unable to comfort him despite all she did for him. Maybe all three, but regardless he asked a question into the darkness.

"Can I still be a hero?"

Silence met his question, and his breath caught in his lungs. The light from the hallway was but a yellow sliver now, but the door opened once more before his mother stepped into the room fully and then closed it behind her. Together but alone in the darkness, the silence dragged on.

Shuffling was heard. Izuku turned to see Inko walking around the bed to sit on his other side, her back to him. She glanced - briefly - at the image of All Might on the laptop, and let out a shuddering breath. "It's never been done before, honey. To be a hero, you need a quirk, and a strong one at that."

Izuku felt like he'd been hit in the bread basket by a hammer, the air he'd been clinging on to while waiting for an answer abandoned him the moment he got one. The tear he'd cried was soon joined by others, each of them falling silently and without his consent.

He felt hot and cold all at once. The one person he'd hoped would believe in him, lie to him if need be, but stand in his corner, had instead ended his flicker of hope with a sentence. Worst yet, he had asked for it, knowing what his mother might say but hoping he was wrong.

Izuku's heart broke and he violently gnashed his teeth together to keep from sobbing aloud.

"At least, that's what I would say… but I'm not the only one who has a stake in such matters."

He couldn't see his mother's face, but Izuku didn't understand what she was saying, voicing his confusion through the pain. "M-mother?"

"The choice, my dear Izuku, is ultimately yours. And as far as advice goes, you have more than just a mother's point of view…" Izuku's eyes, brimming with more unshed tears, went wide. "Your father…" Inko paused to gather herself, a strange quiver in her voice. "I know what your father would have said and it's only right you hear it, too."

They never spoke of him, Midoriya Hisashi. The man who had married Inko and together conceived Izuku with her, shortly before his sudden departure from the country. His mother only ever told him that he'd died when he was but a boy. Any further attempts to get information on him had been gently but firmly rebuffed, Inko stating he wasn't ready.

Was this his consolation prize? Learning about his past only after his future had been tragically rewritten? Either way, Izuku would be lying if he said he was anything other than transfixed as he stared at his mother's back.

"First, understand that your father was a complex man, full of contradictions; a simpleton with a hidden depth. A rambunxious, _fierce_ individual, who only loved as strongly as he fought, indifferent to the many things that others found important, like a steady career or a stable lifestyle. Throughout our time together, he was what one would consider beyond society's express desires…

"I sometimes found myself wondering how we ever came to fall in love, but he had a way about him that was as endearing as it was frustrating. One thing that I couldn't deny was that he was consistent, always, and moreover, consistently a good man."

"Was he a hero?" Izuku could hear his mother sniffling, but he was too enraptured to properly comfort her as she continued, eager to learn about the missing part of their family.

"In his own way, yes. In many ways, yes. And in others... no."

Izuku was confused, and Inko must have felt it as she finally turned her head to gaze at him and the two stared at each other for a moment, both green haired and crying. His mother laughed as she wiped a tear from first her eye and then his.

"How do I say this… your father, Izuku… was a vigilante."

Izuku felt his heart stop. His father… a vigilante. An outlaw hero, unregistered and violent. He didn't know whether to be ashamed, horrified, or oddly proud, and so settled for speechless.

"Unlike most of the vigilantes you've heard about from our countries past, your father wasn't homicidal or corrupt or recklessly untrained. He was more than capable of restraining himself and handling the tougher villains, even if he got a little carried away with property damage on occasion."

His mother smiled at a distant memory and Izuku couldn't help but join her.

"He simply felt that being a licensed hero meant you were removing your autonomy, you fundamental right to decide for yourself. With registration, you lost your ability to choose who to save, when and how. If a call went out for you to save some corrupt businessman from a rightfully angry mob of employees, for example, you would have to do it despite your own beliefs, as you are a paid employee of the government. Hisashi disagreed with this, fearful of how far that line could be pushed in a potential police state. Besides, no man ordered him around. He was - as he loved to claim whenever we'd get into an argument - a free man."

Inko rolled her eyes, but Izuku could tell it was fondly.

"But… we don't have a government run hero system," Izuku cocked his head to the side.

Inko patted the back of his hair down. "Not anymore, no, but we did... and things were far less certain back then. That's why we had so many vigilantes in the first place. Eventually, however, new hero reforms were put in place. That, along with the deportation or imprisonment - or sometimes deaths - of so many unregistered heroes, made vigilantes become a thing of the past. More and more people saw the benefits of being a licensed hero in a society where heroes govern themselves, free from the direct influence of the government, though working together. It made for a safer and better world, but it was a bloody time getting there."

She nodded at the image of All Might on the laptop. "He played a big part in securing the bright future of heroes."

Izuku knew none of this, as their history classes had breezed over the vigilante era of heroes, quirks having only been around for a few generations( _2_ ). He felt blessed to live in a time where heroes weren't mere puppets of the government. He felt his pride in All Might grow even further, but more than that, he felt proud of his father - a pioneer of heroism, even if he was a vigilante.

"So dad... what was he called?"

His mother smiled at him, a gentle, nostalgic smile.

"He was known in our region as the _Twilight Dragon_ , and made a name for himself at a time when vigilantes were at their peak, slowly being hunted down and prosecuted for not being registered. His quirk was a powerful one; **Breath of Fire**. It allowed him to breathe fire from his mouth and then manipulate it with his hands and other limbs. He could even coat himself in the flame, and when combined with his katana, it made for an intimidating site. Your father was, first and foremost, a swordsman."

' _S-so cool_ ,' Izuku thought, eyes wide. A flaming swordsman. Izuku could scarcely believe he was the son of such an amazing man. "Dad was pretty strong, huh?"

"Yes... he was." Inko paused. "He… he had a great quirk, but he was truly strong because of his convictions. He held his belief that a true hero required no payment other than satisfaction that he did the right thing, and that good would always prevail regardless of circumstance. He was fond of the motto - A good deed done in the spotlight is a decent deed, but a good deed done in the shadows, is a great one. That resolve allowed him to against villains and even some heroes beyond his calibre."

Izuku was practically in awe at this point. His father was just too cool, sounding almost unbeatable. So then…

"How did he die?"

Silence filled the bedroom. Inko reached over and closed the laptop, bathing them in the night.

"Your father was strong, Izuku. But he wasn't unbeatable. No one is. Not even All Might, as hard as that may be to believe. His time came, and I would be lying if I said he went peacefully." Tears were streaming down her face now, and Izuku rubbed her back comfortingly, feeling a sadness within himself for a man he couldn't even remember. "But he died fighting to protect bystanders in Canada - where they deported him for being a vigilante - and I know he wouldn't have gone out any other way, except maybe protecting you."

She gave a watery smile to her son, but it broke in a second as a sob escaped, and Izuku thought maybe it was because when she looked at him, she saw Hisashi. Izuku forgot his own pain from earlier and immediately hugged his mom tightly. He had no words of comfort to say, hard as it all was to process, but she clung to his arms nonetheless.

"I just…" She let out a shuddering breath. "I wish he hadn't died alone up there; in the cold, an ocean away. He deserved to be in the sun - he was such a boisterous man. You could hear his barking laugh rooms away." She giggled as she tried to wipe her eyes. "I'm sorry I never spoke of him Izuku. I just-I wanted you to follow your own path, free of his shadow and influence. His convictions killed him, and I didn't want that to happen to you. I couldn't stand the thought of losing you! Forgive me!"

Izuku, his throat clenched, could only nod into his mother's back. He couldn't be mad at her, not for this. She only had his best interests at heart, and even he could admit that if he had known his father had been some amazing vigilante when he was younger, he may have followed a similar path, regardless of the differences in his world from his father's.

"But now…" His mother sniffed before turning to look him square in the eyes, something shining beneath the tears. "Now I see that you are your father's son… your father's and mine… and you would have found your own path regardless."

What was that look in her eyes? Izuku couldn't place it.

"But mom… I don't have any quirks. I'm not like you. I'm definitely not like him." The dark thoughts threatened to swallow him whole again, but Inko grabbed his arms and held him tight, forcing him to look her in the eyes once more.

"Yes. You are. More than you can ever know. So you don't have a quirk. Your father would not have let that stop him from doing what he loved: saving people. Making a difference, that is your goal. It will be tough, it may be suicidal, and a strong part of me rages at this very moment against the mere thought of you doing something so reckless, but I can't stand in the way of your destiny - your path. Like I said, it's yours to pave."

That look in his mothers eyes. What did it mean?

"If you want to be a hero, Izuku…"

Emerald eyes widened...

* * *

Two weeks later found Izuku running at a fast but steady speed, following the shore around the lake. He was back on his training regiment from before his bout of depression. In fact, he'd even increased the difficulty of it, more eager than ever to grow. The talk with his mother had rekindled his inner fire, now a roaring furnace, and he saw no end in sight.

So he didn't have a quirk. So all heroes before him had one. That just meant he'd have to be the first one to break the mold, didn't it? The darkness was gone, and the old Midoriya was back, inexplicably optimistic.

He had also resumed doing his stretches, his katas and various martial arts practices. When he wasn't training or exercising, he would often be holed up in the house, a stack of growing notebooks around him and his mother's laptop, as he continued to research various heroes with lackluster abilities who overcame their deficiencies with creativity and skill.

Martial arts users, technological wizards, and all around clever individuals who took on superior enemies with more impressive quirks. He would follow in their footsteps and build off of them, combining all of their strengths to even the deck for him. If he could help even one person with a learned skill, then no avenue was not worth exploring.

His mother had always said he had a bleeding heart for others, and he couldn't disagree with her. Now, however, he had something to prove on top of helping others. Not just to himself, but to the Twilight Dragon, wherever he was in the heavens. His father had died holding on to what he believed in, his purpose - his dream. Izuku was not about to just give up on his without a fight.

With these thoughts in mind, the eleven year old picked up his pace. The lake was beautiful, but long, and he'd been out jogging for some time already. His body was at the risk of being run ragged, his muscles burned, but he forced himself to keep his breathing steady, the consistent flow of oxygen paramount when exercising.

As he neared the latest bend, he observed how cold it had grown in the past two weeks. Icicles dripped from the nearest branches, as long as his forearm. Snow dusted the tops of the trees and the edges of the shore, and the forest floor was constantly wet during the day. Several nights ago, it had gotten so cold that the lake had frozen up in its entirety, with the occasional brave soul playing on the ice during the day. Despite how fun it looked, Izuku doubted it froze very thick and didn't want to risk it himself.

The same could not be said for the two girls currently sliding on the ice, their laughter filling the chilly clearing with joy.

"Itsuka( _3_ ), wait up!" said one girl, blonde hair tied in pigtails, racing to catch up to her partner who had slid ahead of her by some distance.

"You'll have to catch me!" cried the other girl, 'Itsuka', who had long flowing orange hair and wore a thick blue jacket.

Izuku continued to run as he watched her approach the center of the lake, slipping and sliding on the ice, giggling all the way. Her friend struggled to keep up, but the further they got from the shore, the less she laughed. A thick branch stuck up from the ground and Izuku did a slight jump in time with his run to leap over it. When he turned back to the girls, however, his heart nearly stopped.

There was only one girl standing on the surface of the lake. The other was nowhere to be seen.

"ITSUKA!?" the blonde girl cried, running towards where Izuku could see a hole had formed at the center of the lake before sliding backwards fearfully when the ice she stood on began to crack. She changed tactics, looking around the lake for any sign of aid. "HEEEEEELLLP! SOMEONE PLEASE!"

No one responded but the wind.

Izuku, already tired from his run, didn't even consider what he was doing, allowing the momentum of his feet to carry him towards the screaming girl. By the time he came to his senses, he was halfway across the lake and without the slightest plan. His mind raced; why hadn't she come up? Had she fallen in and swallowed water, unable to breathe? Or had the current under the lake been strong enough to pull her under the ice and away from the breach. The second thought spelt disaster for anyone trying to help her, but neither scenario was good.

Regardless, he didn't slow for a second as he simply took off the winter jacket he'd been wearing and tossed it aside as he neared the hole. Ice under his feet began to crack warningly, but he pushed on. He had but a split second to see the tear stricken blonde girl look up at him in surprise, acknowledge the now belated presence of several people approaching from the far side of the lake with urgency, and take a breath before he leapt into the abyss.

The plunge immediately stole the breath he'd just taken. The water was… beyond cold. He felt like he was being poked by a thousand needles and rubbed down by sand paper. His scream escaped him before he could think, the pain so overwhelming, that he only just managed to save a portion of air.

Forcing his eyes open in the blackness of the lake, he saw no immediate sign of the girl and as panic set in, he reasoned to himself that he'd surface for another breath before forcing himself down again to search properly. Part of him doubted he could force himself to come back down into the painful embrace of the water again, but that point was moot as Izuku looked up and his eyes widened in horror.

It was exactly as he feared; the hole was no longer above him. Already the light from the outside world faded, he noticed, as he was pulled by the strong current further inland to where the ice was thicker. The only illumination was a dim, blue glow from above as the sun's rays struggled to break through the layer of ice.

He was alone, adrift in the darkness, and panic overtook him.

He was going to die.

He'd been foolish, diving in to save a stranger, so eager to prove he was a hero -

' _No! It wasn't that.._ ', he corrected himself.

He had just wanted to help the girl. To save her.

Nonetheless, he knew he'd been an idiot and now it would cost him his life. Some hero he was… As the air left him, he had one thought on his mind: what would his mom think?

An image of her crying over his dead body flashed, and his heart clenched at her broken form. He couldn't allow that to happen. The anger that he'd ever let his mother down, after all she'd done for him, drove Izuku to stave off the panic and fear, if only just, and work on a solution.

He tried stopping himself along the current, swimming up to find purchase on the underside of the ice, but to no avail. The friction did work on slowing him down, however, and then he saw her.

The girl.

She was floating, motionless, only a little ways away from him. He would have missed her if not for her orange hair; bright and vibrant even in the nebulous waters of the lake.

He swam towards her, agonizing over how his lungs burned from the strain. As he gripped her, he didn't bother to check her pulse, knowing it would be for naught if they didn't find a way out and now. He noticed her hands had swollen up into massive fists. Her quirk, he realized. They looked bruised and bleeding… how..

Izuku's eyes widened. He searched the ice above them desperately. The current had slowed, allowing him to tread with her in place. As spots began to appear in the corners of his vision and he felt fuzzy, he saw it - cracks in the ice!

' _Atta girl_ ,' he thought. She'd used her quirk when the current slowed to try and break through. Only she hadn't made it before her air gave out.

He pushed towards the ice with her in one arm. Arriving took longer than expected with the added weight, and he truly felt breathless.

Crack!

Crack!

He punched the sunken in ice as hard as he could. The spiderweb fractured further out, his hands bloodied, but the ice didn't give.

His lungs burned. His vision spun, the dizziness taking hold. He screamed a final time, desperately hammering at the ice with his back and fist.

But then it was gone. His air. His strength. His fight.

The girl slipped from his hands to float gently beside him, her descent into the darkness slow. He sputtered out nothing as water rushed into his lungs, his face panic stricken, the sensation unequivocal. He had failed, and his body greedily swallowed up his recompense.

The blackness took him, completely, and he saw no more… But he heard something.

A voice in the water.

* * *

" _If you want to be a hero, Izuku…_ "

 _Emerald eyes widened._

" _...then be A HERO!"_

 _The words he'd wanted to hear all his life, laid bare before him. The world blurred and swam back into view beyond his mother's eyes. They shone with absolute conviction, the likes of which he'd never seen on anyone before. She believed in him!_

 _No one noticed as an unseen breeze rushed into the room, fluttering the curtains and tussling his hair, but in that moment, Izuku's world changed forever._

" _Be the greatest HERO you can be!"_

* * *

"AAAGGGGGGHHHHH!"

The air burst from his very being, filling his lungs and purging the water from within before expanding in a small dome around his body. It wasn't going to last. With seconds to spare, Izuku clung onto the power within - whatever it was - and channeled it into a turbine of force pointed above him. The ice exploded outward, and sunlight bathed him in its pale promise. However, his energy was spent.

He looked down at the girl sinking to the lake floor, and with a final herculean effort, he pulled his hands up, a tether of wind reaching down to encircle the girl and bring her up to his reach like a tornado. As soon as he grabbed her enlarged hands, his power gave out, and with it his breath, but they were there.

The current no longer a factor, Izuku rose to the surface clutching the girl, his vision swimming once more when he broke the surface.

Air.

He felt rejuvenated the moment he came into contact with it. A gentle gale caressed his face, the harsh cold reminding his body that it was alive. With some difficulty, and after many deep breaths, a still dizzy Izuku lifted the girl onto the surface, careful not to break the compromised ice surrounding them, before circling to another spot and pulling himself up.

Having learned basic CPR in a pre-hero course in middle school, Izuku began applying the steps to the girl, careful to keep her elevated properly and his chest compressions in time. On the third try of clearing her airways, she sputtered and coughed out several cups of water before passing out, though her breath remained steady. Izuku nearly cried in relief.

She would be his first kiss, he reflected.

He was running beyond empty, but he didn't dare linger on the lake for a moment longer, gingerly pulling the girl with him to the not-too-distant shore. Once there, he put her down - somewhat heavier than intended - as his muscles gave out on him and he fell beside her.

Izuku had acted on instinct up 'til that point, but now that the quiet came, so too did his thoughts. The first being, he was alive. The second, he couldn't even begin to process…

"I-I have a quirk," he whispered to no one, his face disbelieving.

He looked around, sure that someone else with a quirk had saved them and that he'd imagined the strange feeling of control over the vortex due to his oxygen deprived state. But no one else was around, the group gathered at the center of the lake still unaware of their escape as they argued around the breach point.

It settled on him. He had a quirk - a wind( _4_ ) quirk - and he'd used it to save not just himself, but someone else, too.

He. Had. A. Quirk.

His first thought, irrationally enough, was panic. He'd just used it in public without consent or a license. Further, he'd used it to do, well, hero stuff. He wouldn't have possibly gotten in trouble for his act of heroism, but he wasn't thinking clearly and so Izuku panicked and stood on shaky legs.

He saw the people on the lake notice their presence, and though he couldn't make them out - which meant they couldn't make him out either - they began running towards them within moments. He had to go.

He checked to see that the girl was still breathing. She shivered in her sleep, but he was sure the approaching adults would take care of her before hypothermia set in. He didn't fancy being discovered peeling off her clothes himself.

Already the adults were closer. He turned to leave when a voice caught him unaware. It was soft, and fragile, not at all like the boisterous one he'd heard five minutes - and what felt like a lifetime - ago.

"..thank.. you.."

Green eyes stared up at him, bleary and moist with tears. Izuku couldn't think of anything to say, no heroic comment came to mind and so he settled for…

"You're welcome."

She smiled and closed her eyes, and he used that moment to flee the scene. A strange feeling came over him, euphoric, as he ran from the girl. His hands tingled, a pleasant chill went down his spine. Perhaps it was from the hypothermia threatening to settle in, but he knew it was more than that. A memory came to him.

" _...but I can't stand in the way of your destiny - your path. Like I said it's yours to pave._ "

Looking back at that night two weeks ago, Izuku now knew what that look from his mother was. It was love. It was acceptance. More than that… it was unequivocal _pride_.

A pride he couldn't help but now feel himself.

Letting loose a megawatt smile, tears in his eyes for what he vowed would be the last time, Izuku ran even faster, an uncontainable energy to his every step. He'd saved himself, and more importantly the girl. He vowed she would be but the first of many. For he was going to be a great hero even without a quirk. Now that he had one of his own, an amazing one at that, he was going to be so much more.

He was going to be the greatest hero of all time.

With a childlike whoop, he bobbed in and out of the trees leading to the lakehouse, an ethereal, calming breeze following in his wake, as he disappeared into the woods.

* * *

Chapter three of 'A Dream from Darkness' will be uploaded soon. Just had a very quick plot bunny, one admittedly explored before, and I had to exorcise it the only way I knew how. More to come.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

(1). Changed the standard time for quirks being revealed to the age of ten, including physical alterations. Almost like a coming of age, or magical cores being stabilized like in the Harry Potter fanon. This allows kids to experience a good portion of their lives as quirkless prior to getting their powers, which makes them appreciate getting them all the more, as well as allowing those with physical mutations to recall what it was like 'being normal'. This of course alters the origin story of quirks being discovered by a glowing baby in China. Simply change it from a baby to an ten year old, and the story remains intact just fine.

(2). The creator isn't clear as to how long quirks have been around, as the current story's year is ambiguous. With One-For-All cycling through eight individuals, it suggests quirks have been around for assumably a hundred years or more, though the technology and clothes in the show contrast with that theory, as they don't reflect such a huge time jump from 2016. I'll likewise remain ambiguous with the timeline, until things are further fleshed out in canon.

(3). Itsuka Kendo is the leader of Class 1-B in canon. There will be developments on thar front.

(4). Some people inherit a single parents quirk, others both, and others a combination of their parents powers. Others still are born with completely different quirks altogether. Midoriya is one such case.


	2. The Tick of the Clock: Part I

**AN:** All rights belong to Kohei Horikoshi and affiliate studios/publishers.

This is a deep AU. All deviations from canon or fanon are intentional, without exception.

* * *

 **THREE YEARS LATER**

Everything rushed past as he roared through the sky. He blew through golden clouds, thick with moisture that attempted to cling to his naked form before burning off just as quickly. The sun greeted him on the other side, large as life, rejuvenating with its unparalleled warmth. _Beautiful_. He was tempted to cling to it a moment longer, and yet he drifted away from its searing light in search of more.

Twin eyes of jade, set wide with wonder, reflected the turning of the world around him; cerulean gradually shifted to midnight blue and eventually to black. Then he was gone. The stars, ever distant, grew close. Closer and closer until, with a thundering heart and a herculean effort, the stars melted; bled into streaks of white fading into the corners of his vision as he pushed harder, ascended faster, flew further than he ever had before; into the heavens.

 _Flew_.

Like a god.

Beyond the wind itself.

Then Izuku Midoriya woke.

He blinked. Once. Twice. He robotically shut off the All-Might alarm blaring on the bedside table without so much as a glance as he sighed in disappointment. Or at least, he tried to. His mouth was incredibly dry, like sandpaper, and instead of a sigh, what came out was a faint rasp. Izuku absently licked his lips, his mind elsewhere.

The dream had felt so real this time. His body had reacted to it on every level. Even now, his heart was racing, his back was drenched in sweat, and in his pajamas well, he supposed it _was_ the morning, after all. Regardless, the dream had been more vivid than the previous night, or any of the nights before for that matter, and it was no exaggeration to say that he'd had the dream often; sporadically, ever since the snowy day on which his quirk had manifested.

Izuku paused from putting on a shirt as he thought of that day. Even three years later, the memory never failed to elicit a smile from the green haired teen. The revelation - the fact - that he had a quirk. Even more astonishing, he'd discovered it in the midst of actually saving someone (and himself) at a time when he'd needed it most, just like the heroes of old.

His quirk? **Fūjin**.

Aptly named after one of the elder Shinto gods, specifically the green-skinned deity of the wind. What he had once mistaken for a heightened version of his mother's quirk, telekinesis, was instead known as aerokinesis; the ability to manipulate, generate, and ultimately command the wind. A truly awesome quirk, as versatile as it was powerful.

Though, unlike in his dreams, he couldn't use his quirk to fly.

' _At least, not yet,_ ' he thought determinedly.

The disappointment from waking quickly faded, replaced by a sense of contentment. With a small smile, he opened his bedroom curtains to the new dawn and began to go about his standard morning routine. At least, until he realized what day it was.

He checked the time on the All-Might alarm clock. 5:45.

"I've got time."

* * *

' _He's running late… again.'_

Shimizu Tsubasa's sigh was void of any true exasperation, though her eyes roved across the moving crowd as she absently fiddled with her watch. She stood on the corner outside of the popular udon restaurant that had recently become their meeting place, still waiting for her friend ten minutes after the agreed upon time. Her petite form, standing at a modest 144cm, was at risk of being swallowed up amidst the crowded foot traffic of the busy intersection. It was mid-noon on a Saturday, after all.

The mild-mannered and admittedly introverted girl was beginning to feel overwhelmed with all the people shoving to and fro. Just as she was about to call her friend for an update, a shock of green hair stood out in the crowd currently crossing the street towards her. Relief filled her at the familiar sight.

Drenched in sweat, with an apologetic smile on his freckled face, Midoriya Izuku rubbed the back of his neck as he greeted her.

"Hey, Tsubasa-chan! S-sorry I'm late," he said sheepishly once he got within hearing distance, his voice barely carrying over the din of traffic. "I had to prepare something for later tonight and it threw my whole morning routine off a bit. I, uh, hope you weren't waiting long," he finished with a frown of concern.

Tsubasa's relief must have shown on her face when he walked up, but she couldn't help the smile that formed as she replied. "No, not long. I always expect you to run a little late these days anyway, Izu-kun," she teased. The viridescent boy pouted at that, but she knew he couldn't refute it. He was prone to tardiness more often than not lately. "You still squeezed in some training?"

She took in the appearance of her friend as he gracefully led them away from the busy intersection and down one of the side streets towards the downtown theater. Izuku stood a fair bit taller than her, at 170cm, his shoulders broader, and his overall form far more lean and athletic than just about all of their class, due to his consistent training. He was still dressed in his black joggers, his track hoodie unzipped to show his sweat-matted undershirt, and his signature red running shoes. He'd clearly just come from another intensive session, though what exactly her friend did during those sessions was anyone's guess.

Izuku nodded at the blonde apologetically. "Yeah, you know the spiel - I can't afford to miss even a day if I hope to be prepared by the time the exam comes around."

Tsubasa rolled her eyes at her friend. "The Yuuei Entrance Exam is a whole ten months away, silly! Besides, if you ask me, you're already good enough to ace the practical as you are now. And I bet I don't even know half of what you can do!" The blonde almost grumbled the last part, causing Izuku to chuckle good naturedly.

No one in their class really knew what the late-blooming boy could do with his quirk or where his limits were. Several of them had seen snippets of it here and there - the rare aerokinetic properties impressing them through small displays throughout the years such as preventing a tripping student from crashing whilst running track, or floating a book over from another table in the library - but only a couple of them had ever seen a fraction of what Izuku could really do. The humble boy preferred to keep his abilities low-key, much to the chagrin of his gossip-prone classmates.

Tsubasa suspected she was one of two people in their whole school who'd seen Izuku actually go all out with his quirk, and that was nearly three years ago. The other person being…. well, the less they said about Bakugo Katsuki and that whole ordeal, the better.

She was almost certain that given his arduous and consistent - albeit secretive - 'training', the verdette had grown in leaps and bounds with his magnificent quirk since then, and it made Tsubasa, a self appointed hero-otaku, nearly salivate at the thought of what her best friend could accomplish now. This fed into her grumpiness that he insisted on holding back around her, barely even using his quirk in public, unlike a vast majority of their peers who took every opportunity to break their statute of limitations and flaunt their quirks around her.

This was because Izuku was unerringly wholesome, and kind, and considerate...

...and because Tsubasa herself was quirkless.

"N-no, I wouldn't say that." Tsubasa saw her friend turn bashful at the praise. "I'm pretty sure you have a good grasp on my quirk as it is. Besides, you can never be too prepared for something... The Yuuei Exam is the hardest entrance exam in the country, after all." He finished with a contemplative tone, as though concerned.

Tsubasa merely scoffed at her friends self-doubt. It wasn't that Izuku lacked confidence, so much as he was a self-pessimist. When it came to others, he always believed in the best possibility; the slightest of chances, the sunny side of things. When it came to himself, however, he was flighty with his positivity. Constantly harsh on his progress, almost repressively so. She assumed this was a side-effect of going over a year believing he was quirkless, as though her friend believed his quirk would disappear one day just as suddenly as it had manifested. In her opinion, it wasn't Izuku's most endearing trait.

Tsubasa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're great - the greatest guy I know - and you'll continue to be great, including being great at that great big exam, and becoming a great hero, and making everything just great." With a big smile on her face, she turned to look at her friend who'd stopped. Izuku stared at her with wide, comically glossy eyes. She allowed a giggle to escape at his awed look. "Neh, your face has gone all ugly again, Izu-kun. You're not going to cry are you?"

The aspiring hero blinked invisible tears out of existence as he blushed. "N-no, of course not! I just…" Tsubasa felt something inside of her flutter at the sincere look her friend sent her, his eyes narrowingly as though he were solving a difficult math problem. "...you're really weird, Tsubasa-chan."

Nearly face faulting, she leveled him with a deadpan look, but he plowed on.

"But the good kind of weird! The best kind of weird… Heck, the greatest kind of weird!" His smile, his hands in his pockets, the sun shining behind him; it all turned the flutter in her gut to roiling knots of emotion. "Which, I-I think, makes you p-pretty great, too."

"..."

"...Tsubasa-chan?"

KONK!

"B-baka! Of course I'm great, too!" Tsubasa had delivered a swift thump to the back of the taller boys head before speed walking ahead, her fists clenched and the swing of her arms exaggerated as she tried to fight the flush creeping up her neck at his earnest words. "Hurry up, hero-boy! We're going to be late for the movie." She continued to grumble about tardy, dense boys saying stupid-cute things and not knowing their effect, scaring passerbyers with her fast-paced mumbling - a habit she picked up from the verdette teen.

She barely heard the confused mumble from the trailing Izuku. "G-girls are weird…"

"I heard that! Now get a move on slow poke. By the time you're done dawdling, Yuuei's exams will have come and gone!"

* * *

Across town, weekend remedial courses for Nabu Middle School were just getting out for the day. As students went off in groups or milled about the entrance, talking, laughing, and even break dancing around the campus, one student made his way home with his head hung low, alone.

' _Yuuei? Of course she'd be going there… maybe if I had a quirk as eye catching as Mina's, I'd have the courage to say, 'I'm aiming for the hero course at Yuuei, too!' Tsk. I can't even do that, though, can I?_ '

Kirishima Eijiro bit his lip in frustration at his lack of resolve. He had no remarkable features; typical dark hair that was only somewhat messy sat atop an average face, of a boy who stood at an average height, and possessed an average quirk.

' _Average, huh? I suppose that's a nice way of saying it. What did Kimiko-san call me again?'_

An image of a pug nosed girl flirted into his mind. '" _You're so boring, Kirishima!"'_ she guffawed.

' _Damn it!_ '

Kirishima kicked a pebble lying in his path as he made his way across the street and through the narrow back roads of the southern suburbs. His hands hardened subconsciously as his frustration threatened to spill out. Boring. The word hurt, but only because it was the truth. He went to kick a soda can negligently tossed beside the road by an unconcerned citizen when a sound carried to him from around the corner.

"...and the weather in Tokyo tomorrow will also be clear and sunny…"

' _Eh? Is that.. the news? Either someone's TV is really loud or… hmm… It's coming through all fuzzy._ '

Interrupted from his downtrodden thoughts, Kirishima turned the corner in pursuit of the static ridden broadcast but stopped short as his vision was impeded by a shadow. A very large shadow.

' _W-what the hell is that?_ ' the fourteen year old gulped.

Gargantuan.

That was a word for the man - thing - that made the cars on the road look inconsequential in comparison. Kirishima couldn't make out any details, due to an abnormally large cloak covering the person from head to toe, but he found the source of the fuzzy broadcast emanating from a radio chained around the strangers neck. It, too, looked tiny around the massive mystery figure.

Said figure stood across the street, looming over two understandably terrified girls. Kirishima recognized them as classmates, though their names alluded him. Not that it mattered. What mattered was that he'd clearly stumbled upon a disturbing situation and the two girls, shivering in their skirts, clearly had no way out of it. He was about to run over and intercede for them when the giant figure spoke once more, it's deep, rumbling words drowning out the radio and freezing Kirishima in his tracks.

" **Rmmb. I ask again - where is the office of the hero Springer? Rmmb. It is said to be in this area.** "

' _Springer? The Spring-like hero, currently ranked 31st in the billboard charts? If I remember correctly, he's not but a few blocks from here!_ ' Kirishima wracked his brain for reasons why this imposing figure would want to know such information, and none of the answers he came up with were good.

"I-I don't know," answered the more composed of the two, though she was shaking like a leaf. Her friend looked close to tears already.

The figure didn't seem to believe her and the oppressive aura around the stranger grew even more violent. The radio broadcast cut off completely without any prompting from the giant, a harsh white-noise blaring through the speakers as the stranger lowered what could only be its head to stare deep into the eyes of the girl.

Kirishima was frozen in his tracks. What he could only assume was killing intent - something that the vilest of villains were reported to have in their battles against heroes - washed over him. His sweat glands exploded, his knees locked, and as he tried to scream out something - anything - to pull the dark strangers attention from his classmates, his throat locked up as he saw his own death violently play over in his mind..

' _I… can't… move..!_ '

The white noise grew louder, its static almost deafening. The looming stranger reached a mammoth, almost scaly hand out towards the fear-frozen girl, and Kirishima felt his knees finally unlock as he made to blitz the creature…

...and then, like a divine wind, Ashido Mina was there, sliding into the narrow space between the stranger and the girls with a wide, apologetic smile on her face, her arms nonetheless spread wide to shield the two behind her.

"S-sorry about that, sir! My friends here are new to the area and extra shy to boot! The Hero Springer's office isn't too far, though! Turn 'round that bend over there and take a left at the main road. After that, it's a straight two kilometers to the building. Can't miss it!"

Kirishima saw the pink-skinned girl breathing heavily as sweat matted her horned forehead. He was in practically the same condition, his heart hammering in his chest as he watched the girl he envied bravely confront and try to appease the terrifying, two-story-tall stranger.

The silence stretched out longer than expected, the grating white-noise on the radio the only sound heard on the block for several seconds.

' _Please work…_ ' Kirishima pleaded to whatever deity he knew.

At last, the figure pulled back, just as the radio seemed to tune back in to a proper frequency, halting the white noise.

"Congratulations caller! You've won a-"

The figure spoke once more, its rumbling voice easily cutting through the chatty anchorman.

" **Rmmb. Thank you, miss… have a nice day… Rmmb."**

And just like that, the oddly polite stranger turned and began walking away with surprisingly soft thumps for something its size, following Mina's directions without a second glance back. Only when it rounded the bend completely did the four students let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

Bewildered, the terrified girls nonetheless turned to their pink-skinned friend, tears falling down their cheeks, as they whispered their thanks. One clung on to the horned girl with a sob. "Ashido-san! Thank you!"

"You totally saved us," babbled the other.

"Think nothing of it, ladies. Let's not celebrate yet, either!" Mina replied, her own voice cracking with emotion. "I totally fibbed on those directions. When he finds out, we'd best be far from here!"

With that terrifying thought, the three girls ran with urgency to the nearest police station to report the incident, leaving a conflicted Kirishima unnoticed across the street.

' _I'd been unable to move. To save them. Even though the stranger didn't actually threaten the girls, the malice I felt in the air… it was unquestionable. Yet, even when I did work up the strength to move, Mina was one step ahead of me. I'm a failure still. But she…'_

Kirishima looked to where the girls had been standing a few moments ago. A thought occurred to him - if the suspected villain failed to find his query, what would he do? The thought was disturbing, especially in the middle of the city. Weighing the options in his head, his feet found their way sprinting towards where he recalled the actual hero office of Springer was.

' _They can warn the police, and I'll warn Springer._ ' As he ran, Kirishima replayed the memory of Ashido sliding in to defend the girls without hesitation. ' _Mina… She's a true hero, but that doesn't mean I can't be one, too. Today… I'm going to save lives, just like her!'_

* * *

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Seriously."

"Wow."

"You said it," came the feigned excitement of Tsubasa. Her amused face blossomed into a teasing grin as Izuku stopped in his monosyllabic praise for the film to look at her.

"Y-you didn't like it?" the freckled boy asked, clearly surprised at her lack of enthusiasm. Tsubasa knew he had been more or less speechless as soon as the credits had rolled, and he'd likely assumed her own silence had been due to a similar amazement with the film.

"I did," she defended, her teasing smile still in place. "Just clearly not to the same degree as you, fanboy." She raised an eyebrow at her friends raised forearms, his fists clenched in excitement minutes after having left the theater.

Izuku took notice of his hyped pose and quickly unclenched his hands. He blushed as he muttered an apology for his zealousness. "Sorry. I mean, it wasn't super great, but I guess I really liked it because-"

"-because it featured a main character clearly based on All Might, right?" Tsubasa finished for him.

Izuku's blush deepened, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Pfft. I know you too well, Izu-kun. I like the guy, too, but your borderline obsession for a grown man is a little disturbing," she teased.

"It's not an obsession!" her friend defended as they made their way through the afternoon crowds. "It's just he used to be the main reason I wanted to be a hero for so long. The reason I wanted to help people, with a smile, like he does."

The fervent look in his eyes made Tsubasa's teasing grin morph into a genuine smile. Izuku got like this whenever the subject of heroes came up, especially if it was All Might. For someone as talented and smart as he was - tied for first in academics at Aldera Junior High - he often came across as little more than a modest fanboy. It was endearing, and oddly inspiring to the quirkless girl.

But she caught something he'd said.

"Used to be? Does that mean someone has replaced the Symbol of Peace in his number one fan's heart?" She had meant to be teasing, Izuku being the only boy in their class that the petite girl _could_ tease, being quirkless and thus shunned as she was. She had expected an avid denial from what she suspected was All Might's main source of income - Izuku's room was filled to the brim with memorabilia and knock-off merchandising of the blonde hero - but she got something else instead.

Izuku looked off, as though taking the rhetoric question seriously. His hand subconsciously went to grab something over his shoulder, as though out of muscle memory, before he caught himself and awkwardly lowered it again. His eyes grew distant.

"There will always only be one All Might. He's irreplaceable, not just to me, but to the world. But… but I think there is someone I've taken more after than I'd ever realized. Someone closer to me… someone bigger, if possible."

' _Bigger?_ ' thought a bewildered Tsubasa, also a hero-otaku like her friend. She knew Izuku wasn't speaking literally about size, but impact. ' _Who on Earth could be bigger than All Might?_ '

"...at least, bigger to me." Izuku finished softly, the distant look slowly fading from his jade green eyes.

The questions mounting in Tsubasa's head were put aside as she felt a vibration in her pocket. Her phone alarm had gone off, signifying she needed to check in with her mother once again. Shooting off a quick text, she turned to the now silent Izuku as they walked aimlessly throughout downtown proper.

' _He's such an enigma, sometimes,_ ' Tsubasa thought to herself. ' _One I can't help but want to solve._ '

"Hey." Her voice, softer than she'd expected it to be, caught Izuku's attention. "My mom won't be back for a little while yet, so I've got time to kill. What say you dish on this new hero of yours over a bowl of ramen?" Izuku seemed hesitant. Whether due to the topic she wanted to flesh out or the type of food she was craving, she wasn't sure, but she pressed on. "Come onnnnn. It'll be my treat?"

"I don't know…" She knew she had him with her smile. Izuku was surprisingly easy to coerce. Despite his more athletic appearance, his face and mannerisms were that of a sweet cinnamon roll. "I have something important I have to do later today."

"Pleeeease? It'll be quick, I promise. Besides, how often are we going to see each other once we move on to high school?"

The guilt may have been laid on a bit thick, but it did wonders for her cause, as Tsubasa saw Izuku's eyes widen and his fists clench. The thought of them growing apart seemed to distress him somewhat, and that made her feel warm inside.

"Just lunch, right?" At her eager nod, the verdette finally relented. "Alright… I've got time."

"It'll be fast," she assured, as she started pulling him towards the place she had in mind, hiding her pleased smile in the process.

Tsubasa didn't see it, but Izuku had a content smile as well while he allowed himself to be pulled along. "Hmm. How fast are we talking here?"

" _Terribly_ fast. Faster than it takes Endeavor to roast a marshmallow," she put on an air of poshness, like she was some authority on the matter of speed.

"Oh my, that _is_ fast." Izuku played along, feigning astonishment like they were in some infomercial.

Tsubasa's giggles followed them as they disappeared into the crowds.

* * *

A bell rang, signifying an order was ready. "Shio ramen! Katsudon!"

Izuku made his way to the register where two steaming bowls of food were waiting. He picked out a few choice tempura on the self-serve bar along the way, while a stern looking woman vigilantly wrung it all up. Tsubasa, who had opted to gather their drinks, had already found a pair of seats for them at the far window, facing out into the city.

Thanking the gruff cashier, who immediately began wringing up the next customer without so much as a glance his way, Izuku carried the tray of food over to the now salivating brunette.

"Shio ramen, katsudon, ebi and shiitake tempura." He placed the dishes down with a mild flair. Tsubasa and he shared a smile and an appreciative intake of breath before they snapped their chopsticks in sync, gave thanks, and dug in with equal gusto. "Oh, that hits the spot."

Munching away at his katsudon, Izuku looked up as a raindrop smacked against the window. Another soon followed, and before he could finish his next bite, the whole window became bombarded by the soft, rhythmic pitter-patter of rain.

"Well, looks like we're bound to get a little wet when we leave," he joked, as the clouds stretched out as far as he could see, grey and foreboding. "Makes that ramen of yours all the more suitable, don't you think?"

Izuku looked over to see his friend slurping away at her noodles, a subtle blush coloring her cheeks that he assumed was due to the heat of her food. He had no idea that it was at the thought of the two of them sharing a walk in the rain. He turned back to his food, already finished with the pork cutlet, now munching away at the fried shrimp, as he basked in the ambiance of the busy establishment. Feeling eyes on him, he took a sip of his drink before turning to Tsubasa once more, who had a strange look on her face.

"Uhm… yes?" he questioned, feeling a little self conscious at her stare. "I-is there something on my face?"

"Mhmm." Tsubasa nodded, her expression even. "Your face."

Izuku nearly face faulted into his food while he heard her amused giggle beside him. "You really are weird, Tsubasa-chan."

"I know!" she said cheerily, returning to happily slurping her noodles. A strange air hung between the two. Not quite unsettling, but strange nonetheless. Foreign. Izuku wanted to dispel it, so he figured he might as well get weird, too.

Tsubasa quickly noticed his own fixed stare at the corner of her lips, and seemed to blush. "Ba-baka, what are you doing?"

"Staring," he said, teasingly. Tsubasa really brought out a side of Izuku he hadn't known existed. He admitted he liked that side of him, even if it took him nearly three years to discover it.

The petite girl rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, there's something on my face?"

"Ye-"

 **Kra-KOW**

Izuku's witty response was cut off as what sounded like a thunderclap reverberated throughout the diner. Some of the patrons gasped as everything fell silent save for the steady working of instruments in the kitchen. The two teens looked at each other, a little caught off guard, but then smiled reassuringly as the rain continued to pour outside.

Went unnoticed by most was that there was no accompanying flash of lightning...

"Sorry," Tsubasa said, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear as she leaned in closer to Izuku, who was suddenly feeling a warmth beyond what the chilli flakes in his meal had provided. His best friend had a foreign look in her hazel eyes that made his heart race. He tried to convince himself it was due to the thunder. "I believe you were saying something about my face, Izu-"

 **KRA-KOW!**

This time, the building shook and the sound of thunder came from right across the street. Before Izuku could voice the fact that lightning was nowhere to be seen, a figure blurred across their vision through the window, colliding into a van and causing it to fold in. Jade eyes widened in shock and no small amount of fear.

There, unmoving amidst the caved in metal, lay a hero.

Then the windows of the establishment shattered and the screams started.

* * *

"Move, move, move! Come on people, let's get you all to safety!" came the reassuring growl of Death Arms, as he continued to usher fleeing civilians further away from the battle ground.

Next to him stood the Rabbit Hero, Miruko, currently ranked No. 11 on the billboard charts. Despite being older than the heroine, Death Arms knew to let her take the reins on the situation, as her number of solved cases would soon rival a young Endeavors. Experience, not age, won battles like the one they were about to enter.

"What's the situation here, DA?"

"Command says a suspected villain was seen headed this way by a bunch of school kids. I was on patrol in the area and sent to follow up on the lead. Didn't think anything would actually come of it." Death Arms spit in frustration, though it was lost in the rain instantly. "Arrived just in time to see some big baddie hurl my boy Springer through a floral van."

"Springer, as in the Spring-like hero? What on earth was he doing here?" Death Arms shook his head to say he had no clue, and Miruko huffed before her eyes settled once more on the unmoving mammoth figure standing in the middle of the intersection. The figure hadn't so much as moved after it had tossed the No. 31 hero like a softball. "So we've got a tough guy here, huh? He doesn't even seem phased at the sight of us."

For a rabbit based heroine, Death Arms felt her grin was absolutely feral.

"That's a mistake he'll regret."

"What are you thinking?" Death Arms flexed his arms in preparation for battle, his adrenaline climbing.

"We don't know what the villain's after, and we don't know if that strength of his is his quirk, or just his natural ability. Without information on his objective or his capabilities, it'll be like fighting in the dark."

"Aren't most of our fights like that?" grunted Death Arms, not too impressed by the woman's ability to spell out the obvious.

"Sure. But if his size is any indication, then rationally he shouldn't be too quick on his feet. The fact that he relied on strength and not some emitter type quirk against Springer means he probably doesn't have much range either. He likely got the drop on your buddy there. It's all dangerously assumptive, but provided I'm right about this, between my legs and your arms, I think we can take tall, dark, and silent without a problem. Meanwhile, my cute interns will take care of Springer and get him out of this rain."

Miruko didn't like teaming up with others, preferring to work alone and rely on herself, but Death Arms had arrived there first and she wasn't going to step on the older mans toes and count him out of the fight. Besides, he let her take the lead, so she was feeling gracious.

"Hmm." Death Arms smirked. He actually agreed with her reasoning. "So do you have a plan of attack?"

"The plan is simple, DA: attack."

Death Arms cracked his knuckles, liking the simplicity of the plan. "You aim high, I aim low? Keep him from bobbing out of the intersection and causing any further collateral damage 'til he's fully subdued?"

"Just like a pinball machine," grinned Miruko, glad they were on the same page.

As the last of the bystanders fled, guided by a couple of aspiring-heroes currently interning with Miruko, the two combat-oriented pros charged at the unmoving giant, intent on pummeling him to the pavement.

* * *

"Whatever happens, don't let go of me!"

Tsubasa heard the voice, recognized who it belonged to, but had trouble associating it with the soft spoken teen she had a crush on. Izuku had only hesitated for a moment at the sight of the fallen hero before his face morphed in the blink of an eye. While everyone else flew into a panic as the diner windows exploded, Izuku had grabbed on to her tightly before jumping up on their table and raising his voice above the chaotic commotion, ushering the panicking crowd out the back door furthest from the situation just outside, and encouraging them to remain calm and quiet, so as not to attract the villains attention.

His steely voice, accompanied by a strong gust of wind from out of nowhere that rattled the plates, grabbed the crowd's attention immediately. His charismatic, almost placating voice was what got people - even the older, most gruff looking men - to heed his words. Tsubasa felt as though she were already staring at a hero.

"Come on," breathed out a suddenly pale Izuku. If Tsubasa had to guess, his instincts had driven him to speak out and he was only now catching up with what he'd done. "Let's get out of here."

They were the last to exit the diner, slipping out into the pouring rain and doubling back onto the main road where a crowd had begun to gather around the four-way intersection. It was then, as their combined curiosity got the better of them, that they fully saw the villain responsible for the violence.

"He's huge," whispered Tsubasa, clinging tightly to Izuku. If he noticed the pressure on his hand, he didn't show it, as he too stared steadily at the mammoth man standing still in the pouring rain. "Come on, Izuku... Let's go."

"Wait," he whispered back, as more and more people pushed them closer to the edge of the intersection. The crowds were just as eager as he was. "The heroes are coming. Look! I can see Death Arms and… is that? No way, that's Miruko!"

"Y-yeah, but…" Tsubasa found herself leaning forward to get a better glimpse at the No. 11 heroine, her fan-tendencies getting the better of her logic only momentarily. "H-hey, come on. Didn't you say you had somewhere to be? Something to do?"

"Yeah, but I've got time," Izuku absently replied what seemed to be his mantra for the day.

Just then, the two heroes charged at the motionless villains blindspot, the Rabbit Hero using her powerful legs to launch herself into the air and aiming a super-powered kick at where the man - creature's? - head would be, while Death Arms drew his right arm back and aimed at the villains torso.

Neither strike landed.

With speed that, while not excessively amazing, nonetheless caught the attacking heroes off guard, the villain grabbed the airborne Miruko's outstretched leg and spun, carrying her into the path of Death Arms, effectively using the Rabbit Hero as a club against the veteran pro.

"No!" gasped Tsubasa, along with the crowd.

Both heroes were sent flying, Miruko the worse for wear as she both took her fellow pro's considerable punch meant for the villain and was used to send the both of them flying several meters away. As such, she was out cold before the fight even began.

"N-no way…" muttered Izuku. His mind was spinning as the crowd backed further away from the dangerous villain. Miruko was known for more than just her tenacious attitude and thundering kicks. She had speed and agility on her side. So why had she been so thoroughly caught off guard? Was it simply arrogance on her part? She didn't think the behemoth could move that fast and she reacted too slow, compromised as she was in mid-air? Her powers were impressive, but aside from her legs, her body itself wasn't much more durable than other heroes, so a hit like that could very well have knocked her out cold, but if she's already out, and she's No. 11, then that meant the villain…

"Izuku!" Tsubasa yelled, as the veritable storm of words erupting from her friends over analytical brain began to gather attention. "This isn't the time or place for your muttering… you're causing a stir."

She saw Izuku look around, and in contrast to his bold actions in the diner, his fearful (albeit instinctive_ analysis had been heard and quickly processed by those around him. They looked equal parts upset and downtrodden at his logic. Tsubasa saw his eyes widen in guilt.

"I-I'm so sorry," he said softly, bowing his head.

"It's ok." Tsubasa squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Come on, we need to go now. Other heroes will come, but if we just stay here before then, who knows what that thing will do."

Izuku shakily nodded his head, and she knew why he was so shaken. Neither of them had ever witnessed such a renown hero beaten so easily before. Miruko was on the cusp of being Top Ten material, and those lot didn't buckle to just anybody. This meant that the villain was really strong, and if it was just Death Arms left… Tsubasa shuddered at the thought, praying another hero would arrive soon.

Just as they turned to walk away, noticing that a few others - but not enough - had also caught on to the foolishness of lingering, Tsubasa heard another gasp from the crowd. Against her will, her body turned back to the intersection.

It appeared that two heroes, though they weren't likely to be pros as they were almost her age and she didn't recognize them, joined the fray as they charged the gargantuan villain, currently pummeling a stubborn but bloodied Death Arms into the pavement. She recognized them as the two who had circled around to help the first hero they saw crash through a van. Springer, if her knowledge served her right. Said Spring-like Hero was still lying unmoving in the wreckage of the van, which means the two (likely) interns had abandoned their mission in lieu of aiding their fallen mentor.

It was a mistake that would cost them everything.

With snap reflexes, the gargantuan creature, still hooded despite his brief skirmish with the pros, turned towards the closest intern - a red horned canary - and punched. Hard. Once. The intern only had time to give a 'caw' of surprise before she crumpled instantly, unmoving. Her partner, a long haired boy with blades for arms roared at the villain in blind rage. Slashing wildly, he barely got within the giants guard before a swift kick from a massive leg caught the teen and launched him into the window of a perpendicular building. Again, time passed, and no movement was sensed from within.

' _Dead… are they all dead?_ '

Tsubasa felt something grip her heart with ice-cold claws, even as tears fell down her face.

 _Terror_.

Pure and primal, overwhelming everything - her anger towards the monster responsible, her logic demanding her to run, even her empathy for the heroes and interns who risked their lives and may have even given them to protect her and the crowd, and her own sorrow- as it froze her in place.

As the villain turned slowly to regard the gathered crowd, equally as frozen as she was, they caught a glimpse of his horrendous visage. Spiky hair, like the devil. A dark-grey colored hyde, almost as though scaled, covered a broad face with pointed canines and blank eyes. There was no satisfaction, no triumph, no sorrow or regret. Just a look of emotionless, neutral evil.

And it looked right at her.

In that moment, Tsubasa felt that she would truly die. "Mother…"

But then something else - something colder than even the icy-grasp of terror on her heart - gripped her. Literally, gripped her. Looking at her numb hand, she realized that she still hadn't let go of Izuku.

Izuku, whose eyes were covered by wet bangs and shadows.

Izuku, whose hands were squeezing so tight that it began to hurt her, though she couldn't cry out.

Izuku, whose shoulders shook and teeth gnashed.

"I-I-Izuku?" she whispered - afraid and worried and confused all at once - no louder than the rain falling all around them. She received a small, reassuring smile in return. He said something to her. Something she only picked up on by reading his lips, the words were so faint.

The wind picked up into a howl. And then her hand was free.

And Izuku was gone, leaving her alone in a crowd of lonely people.

She turned, as though in slow motion, eyes wide in complete horror at the sight of her best friend a few feet away from the villain, his words playing only now in her mind.

" _Don't worry. Everything will be alright.._ "

* * *

 **AN:** Tsubasa is the only named OC you'll find in my story, and while her part may seem significant in this beginning arc, she will be considerably less so as we approach canon territory. I, myself, am not a fan of original characters in fanfiction when there are so many blank-slate characters walking around in canon, but her quirkless character serves as an important part of Izuku's development going forward, so be patient for a chapter longer. For those curious, she is somewhat physically inspired by Kimiko-senpai from Haikyuu.

This work is un-beta'd. All feedback is appreciated.

Mahalo.


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